1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input sheet system for reading an input-sheet on which an instruction from a user is described, acquiring the instruction from the user on the basis of the read result, and performing information processing according to the instruction.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mark sheet system is one of previously known input systems for an information processing system. The mark sheet system has advantages that it can represent the instructions from a user only using a pencil and does not require any special input device. For this reason, the mark sheet system has been used for the purposes of totaling of questionnaires and marking of tests, etc.
The mark sheet system, however, has drawbacks that layout of checking items on a mark sheet is strictly limited, thus making it impossible to create the mark sheet having the layout which can be easily understood by users.
There is proposed, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 7-114610, an input device for an information processing system using an instruction document form which can sufficiently use the advantages of a mark sheet system and freely create the layout of checking items.
In this conventional system, an instruction document form 500 as shown in FIG. 16, for example is previously made and stored in a data base. In this case, the form 500 is provided with a form identifier (form ID) 510 so that the data on the form substance are correlated with the form ID. The form 500 contains check dots 520 by which a user selects desired items and numeral filling spaces 530 to be filled by numerals, etc. The output of the form 500 on a medium such as paper is called an instruction sheet which corresponds to mark sheet paper. Further, the data base stores information of analyzing the form 500 (analyzing information and a processing program for input by the form 500 so as to correspond to the form 500.
For this instruction document, the user checks the check dots 520 and fills in numeral the numeral filling spaces 530. The conventional device reads the instruction document filled out by the user using a scanner. Next, it detects the form ID 510 from a scanned image and takes out, from the data base, the analysis information and processing program for the instruction document form corresponding to the ID. Then, it detects the checking dots and the fill-in contents by the user on the basis of the image analysis of the scanned image according to the analysis information, and executes the processing program using the detection result as a parameter, thus performing the information processing instructed by the user.
After the input operation is performed using the instruction document form shown in FIG. 16, a "Printing Request Questionnaire Form" document will be outputted according to the manner of a print format, output destination and output format of numerical data selected by the user (for a facsimile number filled in by the user when the facsimile is selected as an output destination).
However, in the conventional device, simultaneously when the instruction document form is made, the processing program describing the processing contents when the instruction document corresponding to the form has been read must be made. If not, the instruction document could not be used as a user input medium. In addition, the instruction document form itself, which can be made using a word processor, for example, can be relatively easily formed by persons other than specialists of software. On the other hand, the processing program, which must be described in a predetermined language such as the C-language, could be made only by persons having technical knowledge of software to a certain degree. Thus, in the conventional device, it was difficult for the persons other than specialists of software to create the instruction document form usually and configure the user input system using it.